China was a country of almost no importance for car manufacturers, but now it is more important than many other sales markets. German manufacturers are hopeful that the African market will develop in a similar way. However, there are some challenges along the way.
The car market in Africa is small and insignificant compared to that of China. The German Automobile Industry Association (VDA) believes that the region should not be ignored. China was also very insignificant previously for automakers.
Only 44 cars per 1,000 inhabitants: What possibility awaits the automobile industry?
Car manufacturers have great potential at first glance. Today, only 44 out of every 1,000 Africans own a car. In comparison: in Europe there are 602, in the United States even 830. Although 17% of the world population, that is to say, more than 1,300 million people, lives in Africa, very few have their own car, not even in absolute figures.
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This fact also explains why almost 80 percent of the cars that circulate on African streets are old used cars that are from developed countries. While in 2020 more than 1.3 billion Chinese bought around 21 million new cars, less than a million new cars could be sold in Africa.
Not only in terms of productivity, but also in terms of mobility.
Carmakers in Africa, like those in industrialized nations, aren't only interested in making automobiles. "The question is whether one automobile per home is still the future solution or if it is about new kinds of transportation," says Christoph Kannengießer of the German Business Association. So the question isn't so much whether a person could afford a vehicle as it is whether they or she can afford motor mobility.
VW is putting its Move mobility idea to the market in Kigali, Rwanda's capital. You may rent a car or get someone to pick you up like a taxi if you still don't have one. The Move Ride app has already been downloaded by over 40,000 people. In Ghana, Volkswagen is contemplating providing something similar.
